Male patients in the hospital setting are most likely to adhere to vital sign measurement schedules during home telemonitoring, according to a study published April 9 in JMIR Medical Informatics.
While it is known that adherence levels decrease over time, this study examined what makes patients adhere to care schedules to provide insight into improving adherence rates over time.
“Patient adherence with scheduled vital signs measurements or their use of technology is an important aspect that has not been thoroughly studied,” wrote first author Branko Celler, BSc, PhD, and colleagues. “As patients in home telehealth programs may choose to stop their participation or may not follow the intended procedure, poorer results than expected may be achieved. To gain the maximum benefits of at-home telehealth services, adherence rates should be high. Hence, analyzing factors that can influence patient adherence is of great importance.”
The study included 113 patients with chronic conditions who had completed the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) national trial of home telemonitoring. Researchers evaluated aspects of patients’ ability to adhere to a daily schedule of vital sign measurements as a chronic disease care plan over a six-month period.
Overall, adherence rates were measured at 64.1 percent. Patients monitored in a hospital setting experienced significantly higher adherence rates in tracking spirometry, weight and temperature. Adherence to measuring blood glucose was not different between patients. Additionally, male patients were shown to adhere to blood pressure, ECG and pulse oximetry measurements significantly more than female patients.
“Patients with chronic conditions enrolled in the home telemonitoring trial were able to record their vital signs at home at least once every two days over prolonged periods of time,” wrote Celler and colleagues. “Male patients maintained a higher adherence than female patients over time, and patients supervised by hospital-based care coordinators reported higher levels of adherence with their measurement schedule relative to patients supervised in community settings. This was most noticeable for spirometry.”
Cara joined TriMed Media in 2016 and is currently a Senior Writer for Clinical Innovation & Technology. Originating from Detroit, Michigan, she holds a Bachelors in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.